Two NASA rockets launch from Poker Flat, third rocket expected

Two NASA sounding rockets launched from Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks early this morning in a mission aimed at learning more about how the aurora affects the upper atmosphere.

The two rockets performed as expected, releasing tracer payloads widely visible across central and northern Alaska.

Completion of the study awaits launch of a third rocket, which is anticipated to occur within the same overall launch window ending April 6. The launch team will address a minor anomaly in a wiring harness for one of the motor stages.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute owns Poker Flat, located 20 miles north of Fairbanks, and operates it under a contract with NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is part of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

The mission is led by UAF space physics professor Mark Conde of the Geophysical Institute and UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics and involves a number of UAF graduate student researchers at several ground monitoring sites. NASA and some of the nation’s top universities are also participating. 

“I'm extremely pleased that we were able to get the conditions to line up to allow us to launch and to conduct the experiment,” Conde said. “I am absolutely delighted.”

The mission was more difficult than most because it was essentially two missions in one.

“Because we had the two-stage rockets deploying over central Alaska and the four-stage rocket deploying off the north coast of Alaska, we essentially were conducting two independent tracer experiments at the same time,” Conde said. “And because the camera locations we needed were completely different for each of those rockets, we needed many camera sites to be clear at the same time.”

Results of the experiment, titled Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic Events, or AWESOME, could upend a long-held theory about the aurora’s interaction with the thermosphere. It may also improve space weather forecasting, critical as the world becomes increasingly reliant on satellite-based devices such as GPS units in everyday life.

The experiment features one four-stage rocket and two two-stage rockets.

Tuesday morning’s two-rocket salvo began with a 42-foot Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket launching late in the daily window, releasing its payloads over central Alaska over a range of heights between about 50 and 110 miles. This rocket also measured magnetic perturbations caused by the aurora and deployed four small free-flying instruments to measure pressure fluctuations across the region surrounding the main payload. 

A 70-foot, four-stage Black Brant XII rocket launched shortly thereafter and deployed a constellation of pink, blue and white vapor tracers on a grid spanning four heights, with four tracers at each height. The tracers were released high over the Arctic Ocean during an auroral substorm. 

It also deployed a package of magnetic and free-flying pressure sensors in the same configuration as those on the first rocket. 

Conde noted that some aspects of the payloads did not work as expected but that this and other sounding rocket missions are designed with excess capability to account for failures during the stress of rocket flight.

“Enough of the airborne components functioned perfectly for us to meet our success criteria,” Conde said. “I’m extremely pleased.”

The schedule had called for all three rockets to launch within about a three-hour window

NASA provided an update Tuesday afternoon on the third rocket, a two-stage Terrier-Improved Malemute.

“NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility team reported a successful launch of the first two rockets on March 25, 2025,” the update reads. “An issue with the Malemute motor on the third rocket was identified and will continue to be assessed for repair.”

A dozen UAF student and staff researchers, including Poker Flat Chief Scientist Don Hampton, are at ground observation stations at Utqiagvik, Kaktovik, Toolik Lake, Eagle, Venetie and Poker Flat.

The experiment involves several partner institutions: University of Michigan, Cornell University, Clemson University, Penn State, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, and two nonprofit science organizations — SRI International and The Aerospace Corp.

NASA has approximately 50 NASA Wallops Flight Facility personnel, including civil servants and contractors, at Poker Flat during peak launch operations. NASA also has about six people on-site from its science team.